


it's you i have been waiting to find (i will be redefined)

by doubtthestars



Category: Football RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Magical Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-28
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-17 17:56:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4675988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doubtthestars/pseuds/doubtthestars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Animata don't come with a rule book or even a loose guideline. General science can only conduct studies on those who have it and popular opinion changes ever decade or so. It's a manifestation of the soul through the body or for the less philosophical, an aberration of evolution to get humans on a similar path of mating habits as the rest of the animal kingdom.</p><p>Soulmate! Tattoos with a twist</p>
            </blockquote>





	it's you i have been waiting to find (i will be redefined)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [veidtous](https://archiveofourown.org/users/veidtous/gifts).



> To Chels, hopefully this makes your day better. Thanks for getting into this crazy footballing madness with me. 
> 
> Title from Shine by Years & Years. great band, great song. check it out cuz it goes with the fic yeah?

Mario wakes up Sunday morning to fire licking down his arms. It's not uncomfortable as much as it is warm and worrying. His animata had only changed once before and that was when he decided football was the only path he could possibly take in life. The ink had rearranged to an antique bird cage, the bird missing and Mario feeling bereft. It wasn't like he thought fame would be amazing but his grandmother had warned him about gilded cages long before he had a football at his feet.

It wasn't until he found his place in Dortmund that Mario understood being in the eye of the storm wasn't safe for a bird who didn't get to fly that often, who had to learn how to spread his wings beyond the golden cage.

August ninth, came the change. The golden bars became a molten mess of yellows and reds on the left side of his chest. He pokes it with tingly fingers. This seems permanent in a way he hoped the bird cage wasn't. He doesn't remember what his first form was, maybe a constellation or a medal but he knew the bright ink had never turned so brilliant. It was a seamless transition between flesh and figure. The crown of the sun still holding onto shimmers of gold like the pictures of solar flares he had seen in a book once.

His astonished face is reflected in the mirror. A sun from a bird cage. What in the world did that herald? His last form has been a warning, an omen to take care but a sun could consume the world. It was unstoppable. 

Tuesday, he bumps into Marco Reus and the rest of the puzzle falls into place. There are only a few instances when an animata changes and Mario has a handful of doubts that he is right, but he can't think of anything else to warrant the sun on his chest. The sun that burns pleasantly, like a shot of liquor, whenever he meets up with Marco.

Animata don't come with a rule book or even a loose guideline. General science can only conduct studies on those who have it and popular opinion changes ever decade or so. It's a manifestation of the soul through the body or for the less philosophical, an aberration of evolution to get humans on a similar path of mating habits as the rest of the animal kingdom. 

Mario doesn't know what to believe but he never wants the sun to stop burning.

-

Marco gets the nickname Woody because his best friend sees the bird on his back and thinks it looks enough like the cartoon woodpecker to rechristen him.

It sticks because he runs like a chicken, bobbing his head with every step and legs going ahead of his body. So woody the woodpecker stays with him until he's twenty one when Mario becomes a bigger part of his life than he expected. The bird wings turn softer curving to his spine, molting until they find a home at his pulse point.

Two months after their first official date watching Dortmund play against Bayern, he finally sees the sun on his chest. They share a room for national team training and Marco knows Mario hasn't decided on a regular tattoo design much to his chagrin. He doesn't think any artist could render the glowing star quite as well as the animata. 

The whisper of wings grows at his back until Marco thinks he can fly by thought alone. No one else had ever made the usually tiny wings that rested at his wrist grow to that scale.

"I think I can almost feel them." Mario's fingers glide down his sides where the tips of feathers curl against his ribs. There are still squirming butterflies trapped in his belly. It's still too new and unbelievable that the man he could spend the rest of his days with is sharing this adventure with him.

He takes Mario's hands and kisses the fingertips one by one, marveling at the warmth that radiates from the younger man. 

"What are you smiling at, dopey?" Mario laughs at the tickle, taking back his hand.

"You, sunny."

-

If the beginning of the season feels like he is on air and unstoppable, then the end of it is realizing his wings are not as durable as he thought they were. It is a familiar song with familiar hurt. He doesn't do much beyond defending Mario all the while dealing with the inevitable change. The champions league dream doesn't feel as solid as before without Mario there. 

If Guardiola had a snake as an animata, Marco wouldn't be surprised. Bitter hurt fills his lungs days before his soulmate leaves for another team. The word is fragile between them. They never outright declare their status but anyone with eyes can see what they are to each other. Marco starts covering his wings with tape and an armband. 

Pragmatism tells him it is not the end of the world. They are still in the same league and they will always be close, but Marco's soul is made of hollow bones that take far too long to mend when splintered. Mario won't listen to anyone about the transfer so they spend the whole day talking about the most outrageous thing they would buy with the buy-out figure Bayern threw out.

"You," Marco finally decides. Mario's lips thin out but his eyes stay on him, a mix of guilt and pleading swimming in the amber color. He brushes his palm against his cheek, comforting the both of them with the gesture. Mario closes his eyes against the touch. 

"You already have me, Marco. You'll always have me." They breathe in sync, side by side in the almost bare bedroom. Marco apologizes with his touch, the kisses not a farewell but a new start to hold onto.

The red looks good on Mario, he has to admit. 

-

They are impossibly close to achieving a dream when Marco goes down and is ruled out for the rest of the journey. He spends his time in Tyrol alternating between sulking and exertion. This was going to be their world cup, the first time on this world stage and Marco not being there beside him after getting so close makes the sun on his chest simmer with a low burn that thrums in his bones. He wouldn't give up the chance to win, to bring the Cup back home to Marco.

"My Oma knew a girl with stars on her shoulder, said they looked like freckles." Thomas never stared at the giant sun that was still somewhat shy of the others. Mario didn't feel self-conscious around him, simply because Thomas wasn't going to ask questions or give him his interpretation of the unusual animata. He just took it in stride like everything else. 

"Marco must really love you, you know. To have such a mark." Mario is the one left staring at the odd remark. He swallows down his trepidation to ask why Thomas was so certain. 

He shrugs, gangly and awkward like any other instance of the Bavarian using his limbs to express himself. 

"It's the center of the universe. He must hold you up to that level, and the colors, they shine. My Oma used to say when your soul recognizes the one you belong with, it takes the form of what they feel for you, so you don't take it for granted; it's a reminder. She never bought into soulmates completing each other. You _compliment_ each other, you see a bigger picture together is all. You are still you when you meet that person, the change in your animata isn't your soul transforming. It's your feelings. It's the whole picture of you and that person." He sounds like he's quoting back the exact words of his grandmother. 

Mario is taken aback, but the interpretation feels right, sounds better than anything else he's heard. 

"She sounds like a very wise woman." Thomas beams with a full set of teeth, clapping a hand to his shoulder. Mario works up the nerve to ask after the horseshoe he knows is on Thomas. 

"What about yours, we all assumed..." he trails off. Horses were important to both Lisa and Thomas. 

"We're lucky, lucky to have found each other, what's better than a horseshoe for luck?" An unbidden smile answers Thomas' toothy one. It's a simple answer but Mario knows for Thomas, love would never be complicated. The burn in his throat eases, a lightness spreads from his chest down to his toes. 

This whole time he thought he had to let go of Marco enough to let him fly, when they were his wings all along. 

-

"I saw the videos. Tell Auba that I'll get David to prank him the next time he wants to post my boyfriend in his underwear on social media." The square with Marco's face shook with the force of his laughter. 

"Don't do that, they'll end up joining forces, then we wouldn't have anything to fuel the rivalry between our teams. No one could go against David's puppy eyes." Mario snorted, rolling his eyes for good measure. He didn't think anyone besides Neven and Jerome really bought into the rivalry. The defenders held grudges forever. 

"Go back to hating Schalke, just because we don't have a proper derby doesn't mean you get to take up 1860 Munchen's spot." Marco choked on his laughter. He took a few calming breaths. 

"Stop changing the subject, what are we going to do for our birthday?" Mario sighs, rubbing his jaw.

"Not Ibiza, I just want to relax and not worry about shutterbugs." Marco hums, looking off screen for a moment before smiling widely. Mario is a little entranced by the full transformation of his soulmate's face. It had been months since they saw each other in person and he missed seeing that crooked smile. 

"I've been thinking of getting--" Mario interrupts him. "Please don't say a yacht." 

Marco laughs brightly, "No, I was thinking bigger. Maybe our own private island."

**Author's Note:**

> There was a lot of little details I deliberated on, the bird cage vs the bird, the icarus allusion, the wings and the sun. The woodpecker makes it's own home but a bird is still a small, fragile animal(glass bones jokes anyone?) while the birdcage is meant to keep a bird safe inside a space(but without a bird in it, it has to find another purpose). 
> 
> With Marco, Mario feels like he can finally reach his potential, that he shouldn't fear new heights. With Mario, Marco feels like the sky isn't the limit, that the sun will always rise for a new day. I also think Marco would have strong feeling about colors while Mario is more a black and white kinda person so the wings don't have color but are very detailed, while the sun is a mess of color, not quite the true sun but an interpretation. 
> 
> Though this is by no means the only way to interpret the tattoos, feel free to come up with your own (and maybe comment?)


End file.
